City OKs $500M Phase of World Market Center

LAS VEGAS-The City of Las Vegas has approved plans for the most significant phase of World Market Center. The planned 12-million-sf, eight-building development on 57 acres is being dubbed the largest home furnishings trade complex in the world.

The city last week unanimously approved plans for the $500-million third phase of the project, which includes a 16-story building and an adjacent nine-story parking garage. The building will total 2.1 million sf and be the largest and most diversified showroom structure planned for World Market Center. About 15% of the space is already committed.

Phase 2, currently under construction and opening for the January 2007 market, is a 1.6-million-sf 16-story structure that is fully leased. World Market Center plans to pull permits and break ground on the third phase in the fourth quarter of 2006. The construction timeline is 18 months.

When complete, the campus will have three interconnected buildings housing five million sf of permanent home furnishings showrooms across all industry segments. Amenities will include wireless Internet access, full service cafes, internet lounges, ample parking, loading docks and freight elevators.

"The first three buildings are configured in such a way that if one segment of the home furnishings industry has greater demand, the segment can expand vertically into new floors as well as horizontally into new showrooms in adjacent buildings," says Babs Blair, director of Leasing for World Market Center. "Manufacturers of a particular segment can be placed appropriately to create an efficient marketplace, keeping the segments together and enhancing the buyers' experience in terms of shopping by category."

Building 3, which will have 140,000-sf floor plates, will provide growth opportunities for sectors of the industry that World Market Center already caters to, such as furniture and decorative accessories and lighting and floor coverings. In addition, it will allow for the introduction of new segments such as textile and floral/seasonal goods.

World Market Center's managing partners are Jack Kashani, Shawn Samson and the Related Cos. LP. The development team for Phase 3 will include Jerde Partnership International as lead design architects and JMA Architecture Studios as executive architects.